Home school graduate seeking an accounting degree

[RizP]

I am seeking a degree, associate or bachelor (not sure yet), in accounting. I am home schooled and was raised on a farm. Since I'm good with numbers and farming, I would like to further my knowledge in that direction of expertise. I live out in the middle of nowhere (state of OK), so online would be the best fit for me.

Does anyone have any ideas on where would be online, home school friendly college or university that might be worth considering? Any other suggestions are appreciated.

[rachel83az]

As a homeschooled student, you may be required to take the GED before you'll be accepted. Some schools may accept other documentation but the GED is going to be the fastest and easiest way to "prove" you've graduated. Your first step (right now), is going to be to go to Sophia.org and sign up to start taking all the classes. Once you've got them done, you can start looking at college options.

WGU might be the best option. It's $3225 for every 6 months. Finish all your classes in 6 months and that's all you pay. Transferring in the Sophia credits should make it relatively easy to finish in 6-12 months.

https://www.wgu.edu/online-business-degr...ogram.html

[freeloader]

Within the world of online education, there are a lot of options and the best fit really depends on your situation. What are your priorities and goal?  If you think your future is taking over the family farm and you want to equip yourself to be able to manage the finances of your farm in a way that a lot of farmers might not be able to and maybe do some bookkeeping on the side, that is great. If you want to open a small bookkeeping shop in rural Oklahoma, that is great. If you want to move to Oklahoma City or Tulsa and work as a CPA in a small accounting firm, that is great. If you want to move to Dallas or Chicago or New York Or London and work in a big national/international accounting firm, that is great too. If I were advising you, my advice would differ depending on what you think you want to do with your life.

I am working on a bachelor’s degree in accounting right now and doing it online. I previously earned a BA and MA in history. For me at least, accounting takes a while to sink into my brain.  Accounting also builds upon itself. You can’t take Intro to Financial Accounting and then forget everything the way that you kind of can with some disciplines, especially in the social sciences and humanities. It’s more like math in that way—you can’t do calculus if you can’t add and subtract.

All of that to say, I personally don’t think online alternate credit providers make a lot of sense, at least for your accounting classes.  Study.com offers upper level accounting classes, but from what I have seen most universities limit what they will give you for these. TESU seems to accept them for what they are (Intermediate Accounting gives you credit for Intermediate Accounting, for instance), but almost all of the other colleges I have looked at give you general transfer credit, meaning you would have to retake (and pay again for) those classes.

That said, if you haven’t done so already, I would register at Sophia.org and take the accounting class they offer if you haven’t taken a college-level accounting class. You could also knock out a bunch of your general education course (history, English, statistics, college algebra) while you are at it.  Hopefully you get some credit for it. Even if you don’t, it will give you a good intro to the subject matter and might help you get admitted to the college or university of your choice.

The other point worth making is that most people on this forum are not in your situation. Most of us are older and trying to figure out how to earn a degree as a 30 or 40 year old, often while balancing work and family commitments. I, for instance, work in government and need an accounting degree (or equivalent) to check some boxes to be eligible for promotion. While my goal and yours are the same—an accounting degree—what makes sense for you and I may be fairly different.

[LongRoad]

May I pipe in with a different point of view? My suggestion would be to attend a traditional school - even if it's online. My knowledge of home-schooling is non-existent, but my thought is that there is less intellectual interaction between home-schooled students than there is at B&M schools. (To be clear, I was questioning the amount of interaction between students, and not the intellectual level of any interaction. Many students away from home for the first time seem to interacting at parties rather than class. That first year is make or break for folks on their own for the first time.) And, at least in the beginning, try to avoid asynchronous courses. Maybe even try for a school outside of OK if finances allow.

Mixing it up with others of different backgrounds teaches us lots. Even if it's simply NOT to major in avoiding class, partying, and sleeping in.

Good luck with whatever path you take.

Even if you think my advice would be helpful, by all means take course from Sophia (while they're free), and lots of other alternative sources. My opinion is that the Big 3 shouldn't be the first option for a young person just getting out of high-school.

[mudball]

My son was homeschooled and has taken courses from 4 colleges and has never needed a GED. We sent an excel spreadsheet of his high school transcript and it has not been a problem yet. He ended up getting his BA at TESU. We made that choice because we could not afford the tuition anymore and do not believe in debt if it can be avoided. I think he would have benefited from attending some brick and mortar classes but we are also very rural and it would have been difficult. You can see the schools he has attended in my signature. I would not suggest Hodges. CSU and HES have excellent online courses. You can inquire at WGU or any other to see if they accept homeschoolers.

[natshar]

You should figure out if accounting is for sure what you want. For starters to learn about accounting in a cheap way, do sophia accounting (which is free). And you can also do onlinedegree.com accounting course which is $9. I found od to have more information than sophias. Even if these don't transfer to the school or your choice at least you can get some experience in accounting and decide that is for sure what you want to major in before starting.

TESU could be a good option. Doing accounting through an alternative credit might not be the best idea though. WGU might be better because WGU’s accounting courses might prepare you for a career better and the credit would be from an actual school. You could still transfer in your gen eds to finish quicker and save money.

For someone just out of high school the big 3 usually isn't the best option. It all depends though. And even financially you might be able to get a cheap education from community college and scholarships. Many community colleges are super cheap already and give high school graduates scholarships to make it basically free.

You could alway start at a community college (could be online community College) and then from there either transfer to a state school or an online school like tesu or wgu.

If you don't have a hs diploma then getting your ged might open up doors. But I guess it just depends how much time and effort it would take to get it. If it would take a ton of time and money you probably could make do with out it. But if it is relatively quick and easy then it might things easier.


But this is is all up to you. You have to decide what you want to do. We can all have opinions but you have to make the best choice for you based on your circumstances. And if you make a choice and if change your mind later that is ok too.

[rachel83az]

My son was homeschooled and has taken courses from 4 colleges and has never needed a GED. We sent an excel spreadsheet of his high school transcript and it has not been a problem yet. He ended up getting his BA at TESU. We made that choice because we could not afford the tuition anymore and do not believe in debt if it can be avoided. I think he would have benefited from attending some brick and mortar classes but we are also very rural and it would have been difficult. You can see the schools he has attended in my signature. I would not suggest Hodges. CSU and HES have excellent online courses. You can inquire at WGU or any other to see if they accept homeschoolers.

That's great. When I first started my college journey, the local CC said that I must have either a GED or else take their specialized placement test that cost at least 2x the GED. The GED has more value than a localized test, so I opted for that. Worth it.

[indigoshuffle]

I am seeking a degree, associate or bachelor (not sure yet), in accounting. I am home schooled and was raised on a farm. Since I'm good with numbers and farming, I would like to further my knowledge in that direction of expertise. I live out in the middle of nowhere (state of OK), so online would be the best fit for me.

Does anyone have any ideas on where would be online, home school friendly college or university that might be worth considering? Any other suggestions are appreciated.

Your best bet would be WGU. Check out their website and go from there.

Check out partner schools and credit providers and transfer in as much as you can before you begin, because you cannot bring in credits once you've started.

https://partners.wgu.edu/

[a4tunatemom]

My son was homeschooled and has taken courses from 4 colleges and has never needed a GED. We sent an excel spreadsheet of his high school transcript and it has not been a problem yet. 

I second this. I have seven children. The oldest four have been accepted at 8 different community colleges, 4-year universities, and graduate schools with no issues. None of them ever took the GED. In fact, Home School Legal Defense specifically advises homeschoolers to not take the GED.

[dfrecore]

As a homeschooled student, you may be required to take the GED before you'll be accepted. Some schools may accept other documentation but the GED is going to be the fastest and easiest way to "prove" you've graduated. Your first step (right now), is going to be to go to Sophia.org and sign up to start taking all the classes. Once you've got them done, you can start looking at college options.

WGU might be the best option. It's $3225 for every 6 months. Finish all your classes in 6 months and that's all you pay. Transferring in the Sophia credits should make it relatively easy to finish in 6-12 months.

https://www.wgu.edu/online-business-degr...ogram.html

A school cannot require a GED to "prove" you graduated - a high school diploma is all that is needed.  Even one issued by your mom counts, as long as you met state requirements.  So do NOT water down your diploma by getting a GED.